{"id":284199,"date":"2025-07-23T03:44:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T03:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/284199\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T03:44:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T03:44:23","slug":"tour-de-france-stage-17-preview-crosswinds-could-bring-a-dramatic-twist-to-the-last-flat-stage-before-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/284199\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France stage 17 preview: crosswinds could bring a dramatic twist to the last flat stage before Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stage 17 of the 2025 Tour de France is the last flat day before Paris, and therefore attractive to the sprinters. It could also be an opportunity for a breakaway, particularly if the peloton decides to have an easy day before hitting the Alps.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s also a chance of echelons forming along the sinuous route, which could criss-cross any headwinds blowing down the valley of the river Rh\u00f4ne.<\/p>\n<p>Stage 17: Boll\u00e8ne &gt; Valence<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Date:<\/strong> 23 July<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distance:<\/strong> 160.4km<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elevation gain:<\/strong> 1,650m<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stage type:<\/strong> Flat<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"359\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TdeF2025-Stages-Stage-17-Schedule.jpg\" alt=\"Tour de France 2025 - stage 17: Boll\u00e8ne &gt; Valence - schedule\" class=\"wp-image-922690\"\/><br \/>\nStage profile<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1715\" height=\"678\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TdeF2025-Stages-Stage-17-Elevation.jpg\" alt=\"Tour de France 2025 - stage 17: Boll\u00e8ne &gt; Valence - elevation\" class=\"wp-image-922689\"\/><br \/>\nStage map<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"724\" height=\"1024\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TDF-2025-Stage-17-map.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-923077\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In between some supremely mountainous stages, the peloton should find some typical calm on the road to Valence today.<\/p>\n<p>Not that the sprinters \u2013 nor their teams \u2013 will find much peace, especially in the final third of this stage, as manoeuvring into position before the brawl to the line takes shape.<\/p>\n<p>The fast men have dominated in Valence. This is its fifth finish and the previous three occasions have been clinched by serial winners \u2013 Andr\u00e9 Greipel in 2015, Peter Sagan in 2018 and Mark Cavendish in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>For today\u2019s sprinters, it\u2019s their final chance at a win before the finale in Paris, and if they haven\u2019t got off the mark so far, they\u2019re nearing the last-chance saloon.<\/p>\n<p>Paris-Nice veteran Boll\u00e8ne hosts the start, the town\u2019s first elevation to the Tour de France.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as an absolutely flat stage on the roads of the Vaucluse and Dr\u00f4me, but there\u2019s definitely an opportunity here for the sprinters, and that\u2019ll mean the breakaway riders won\u2019t get much room for manoeuvre,\u201d says race director Christian Prudhomme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the wind starts to blow, as is often the case in this area, there could be a dramatic twist if there\u2019s an attempt to create echelons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019ll be real tension at every change of direction over the final 50 kilometres.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More on the Tour de France 2025<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s on the stage?<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-949889540.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-928413\"\/>The Saint-Apollinaire Cathedral in Valence dates from the 11th Century. Jean Marc ZAORSKI\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Apart from two brief excursions into the hills on the left bank of the Rh\u00f4ne, the stage follows the river north, offering a flattish parcours.<\/p>\n<p>Valence is the capital of the Dr\u00f4me d\u00e9partement. Considered the gateway to the south of France, it has an attractive old town with many monuments, including the 11th Century Cathedral of St. Apollinaris.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also famed for its Suisse, a biscuit in the shape of a man and mirrored on the uniform of the Swiss Guards protecting Pope Pius VI, who died in Valence in 1799. You can wash your Suisse down with Crozes-Hermitage red wine, made from grapes grown north of the town.<\/p>\n<p>One to watch: Jonathan Milan<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2225277308.jpg\" alt=\"Lidl - Trek team's Italian rider Jonathan Milan celebrates on the podium with the best sprinter's green jersey.\" class=\"wp-image-930778\"\/>Jonathan Milan celebrates on the podium with the best sprinter&#8217;s green jersey after stage 15. Marco Bertorello \/ Getty images<\/p>\n<p>This looks like a stage for the sprinters, despite the opportunity for a breakaway to put some substantial time into the peloton on the early-stage climbs. With Tadej Poga\u010dar just behind him in the points classification, Lidl-Trek&#8217;s Jonathan Milan will be hoping to cement his advantage in Valence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stage 17 of the 2025 Tour de France is the last flat day before Paris, and therefore attractive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-284199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114900491751613576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}